Made known by EP1810892 B1 was a motor vehicle body in which the structural element is an arced strut with a convex side facing the engine compartment that extends between the engine compartment and passenger cabin, and the cross member is a profile resembling a gutter, in which the open side of the gutter faces the passenger cabin, an upper lateral wall of the gutter supports a front lower edge region of the windshield, and a lower lateral wall of the gutter lies on the cross strut. If contact is made with a pedestrian in traffic and his or her head impacts the windshield, the cross member is clinched, i.e., the upper and lower lateral walls of the gutter move toward each other, while an area of the gutter lying in between must evasively move in the direction of the engine compartment. This conventional cross member also has a curved shape when viewed from above, so that such an evasive forward movement can only take place given a simultaneous expansion of the diverting material or, if the material is too strong for such an expansion, the evasive movement of a portion of the cross member directed toward the engine compartment must be offset by an inward motion in the direction of the passenger cabin in other portions of the transverse member. High forces may be required to unleash the shear deformations associated therewith on portions of the cross member, which is due to the fact that the cross member may exhibit a high deformation resistance in at least an initial phase of the head impact.
Thus, it may be desirable to provide a motor vehicle body with a cross member supporting a windshield, which reduces the chance of injury when a head impacts the cross member or the windshield it supports. In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.